Table 1. Area, total carbon, and mean carbon content
of vegetation and soils in major ecosystems of the earth in 1980 Tropical evergreen forest 602 107 62 177 104 Tropical seasonal forest 1,459 169 125 116 86 Temperate evergreen forest 508 81 68 161 134 Temperate decidiuous forest 368 46 49 131 134 Boreal forest 1,166 105 241 90 206 Tropical fallows (shifting cultivation) 227 8 19 38 83 Tropical open forest/woodland 307 15 20 50 64 Tropical grassland and pasture 1,021 17 49 16 48 Temperate woodland 264 7 18 27 69 Temperate grassland and pasture 1,235 9 233 7 169 Tundra and alpine meadow1 800 2 163 3 204 Desert scrub1 1,800 5 104 3 58 Rock, ice, and sand1 2,400 0.2 4 0.1 2 Cultivated temperate zone 751 3 96 4 128 Cultivated tropical zone 655 4 35 7 53 Swamp and marsh1 200 14 145 68 725 TOTAL 13,767 594 1,431
1 From Whittaker and Likens (1973)
and Schlesinger (1984).
Adopted from R.A. Houghton, 1995: Changes in the storage of
terrestrial carbon since 1850. In Soils and Global Change, R. Lat, I.
Kimble, E. Levine, and R.A. Stewart. Lewis Publishers. 440 pp.
Area
(106 ha) Carbon in vegetation
(1015 g) Carbon in Soil
(1015 g) Mean carbon content of vegetation
(Mg C/ha) Mean carbon content of soil
(Mg C/ha)